Jeanette Winterson Quotes

Fond man! the vision of a moment made! Dream of a dream! and shadow of a shade!

We are but phantoms ... and the phantoms of phantoms, desires like cloud-shadows and wills of straw that eddy in the wind; the days pass, use and wont carry us through as a train carries the shadow of its lights.

What is this world? A mere curl of smoke for the wind to scatter.

I see that all of us who live are nothing but images or insubstantial shadow.

This world's a bubble.

The seed of mortals broods o'er passing things, and hath nought surer than the smoke-cloud's shadow.

One should see that all appearance is like mist and fog.

Life is but a day; A fragile dewdrop on its perilous way From a tree's summit.

What is life if not the shadow of a fleeting dream?

The likeness of the world? A shadow! And world's glory? A dream!

There is nothing certain in a man's life but that he must lose it.

What is life? A madness. What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story. And the greatest good is little enough; for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams.

Alas for the affairs of men! When they are fortunate you might compare them to a shadow; and if they are unfortunate, a wet sponge with one dash wipes the picture away.

I do have a sense, and I've never not had it, of how easily things can vanish.

Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost.

It's a mantra I've lived by for as long as I can remember. Nothing lasts for ever.

Dreams rise like the sun and set like the sun: One minute, it is high and bright; the next minute, you might lose it.

Anything that's given to you can be taken away from you at any time.

Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world: As star at dawn, a bubble in a stream A flash of lightning in a summer cloud A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream

Fame is an illusion. Things can be given to you quite easily, but they get ripped away so quickly as well.

Everything is an illusion; that is the whole thing about it - illusion, immitation, a mirage. It makes me too sad. Its having like a good dream, you know you are going to wake up.

One should not believe too strongly in a life which can easily vanish.

Everything is transient. Everything is constantly changing. The only thing we have is now.

Life and death are nothing but the mind. Years, months, days, and hours are nothing but the mind. Dreams, illusions, and mirages are nothing but the mind. The bubbles of water and the flames of fire are nothing but the mind. The flowers of the spring and the moon of the autumn are nothing but the mind. Confusions and dangers are nothing but the mind.